


Falling

by soulfight



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-04-27
Packaged: 2020-02-08 13:06:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18623863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soulfight/pseuds/soulfight
Summary: Jiwoo has a habit of falling, but Jungeun is always there to catch her.





	Falling

**Author's Note:**

> As a member of lipsoul nation, this was weird, but shout out to Kayla and Julia for converting me into a baby chuulip fan. 
> 
> Anygays, I hope you all like this kinda short, kinda rough one shot. PS. yvesoul if you REALLY REALLY squint 
> 
> orblinks follow me on Twitter @lalalisoul

Jiwoo and Jungeun have been best friends since before Jiwoo could even remember. It all started in some arbitrary grade in elementary school where the kids still don’t pick out their outfits and recess was the highlight of every day. 

Jiwoo was new in town. Even from a young age, she had a lot of love to give, but at the time, the kids only wanted to be friends with the ones who could bring their kickball team to victory during recess, or the kids with the best packed lunches. Jiwoo wasn’t the type to spend her free time running around on a poorly maintained baseball field, kicking around a rubber ball, so that narrowed down her potential pool of friends and her dad would only pack one sweet treat so that narrowed it down even further. 

This meant that Jiwoo became quite accustomed to spending recess alone, often picking flowers or playing hopscotch by herself. That is, until Jungeun came around. 

It started off like any other recess.

Jiwoo grabs the chalk out of her class’ shared recess basket and draws the lines for hopscotch. After practicing for so long, she’s now able to draw near perfect lines (a grand achievement). Next is perhaps the most important part, choosing her rock. It needs to be big enough so it won’t bounce too much when she throws, but also small enough so she can have control. Finding the perfect rock usually takes up half of her recess time, but this time, she got lucky. Sitting a few feet away from her hopscotch game is the perfect rock. Excitedly, she starts playing.

She gets a few jumps in, only missing her toss once so she skipped her turn, but she’s the only one playing so it didn’t really matter. It’s on square 6 when her relatively smooth gameplay turns south. Jiwoo tosses her rock and it lands slightly to the right, but within the lines, so she hops over to pick it up. When she lands in the 6th square though, she lands straight on the rock, tipping her balance and making her fall. Jiwoo anticipates the rough feeling of asphalt on her knees, but instead is met by small, yet strong arms. 

Jiwoo looks up and sees a girl she somewhat recognizes, but doesn’t know. She flashes this girl a wide smile and says, “thank you for catching me!” She stands up and brushes off her clothes.

“I’m Jiwoo! Kim Jiwoo!” She sticks out her hand because she’s seen her dad do that all the time and apparently it’s a polite greedy or something like that. The other girl shakes Jiwoo’s hand and Jiwoo smiles because this girl knows what her dad does too! She wonders if this girl’s dad showed her as well.

“I’m Jungeun. Kim Jungeun.” Jiwoo smiles even brighter and thinks that Jungeun might just be her bestest friend for life, she did save her after all. 

They spend the rest of this recess and every recess thereafter playing hopscotch or running around. 

___

The next year, Jiwoo and Jungeun are in the same class again which meant another year of recess. Both of the girls got a bit bigger since the last year and Jiwoo has bangs now, but other than that, everything is about the same. 

When recess time comes, Jiwoo runs out to the asphalt, but when she turns around, she sees Jungeun, the teacher, and a bloody nosed boy walk back into the class. Jiwoo is sad that Jungeun isn’t out to play yet, but figures she could make Jungeun a crown while she waits. 

Over the summer, she went to a camp that taught her how to make flower crowns and she’s been practicing ever since. She runs around their play area, looking for pretty flowers to use. She grabs a whole bunch of them. Some are white, some are yellow, but the most special ones are red. That’s Jungeun’s favorite color so Jiwoo is determined to make the red flowers the center point of the crown. 

It only takes about 20 minutes for Jiwoo to finish making the crown and right as she puts the finishing touches on, Jungeun walks out to the asphalt. Jiwoo’s head shoots up and she sprints over to Jungeun, careful not to rustle the crown too much.

“Jungie! Jungie! I made you a- oh!” Jiwoo’s excitement seems to make her forget how to run properly and she trips, falling into Jungeun’s arms. 

“Thank you, Jungie” Jiwoo says with a smile and quickly looks at the crown, making sure it’s not damaged. Thankfully, it isn’t.

“I made you a crown.” Jiwoo presents the gift to Jungeun who smiles brightly at the other girl.

“Thanks Jiwooming.” Jungeun tries to take the crown from Jiwoo’s hand, but Jiwoo insists on putting it on Jungeun’s head, as if crowning the new queen. 

Jiwoo spends the rest of that recess teaching Jungeun how to make a crown too and although it isn’t as perfect as the one Jiwoo made, Jungeun crowns Jiwoo with her very own flower crown. 

They have to take them off when they go back to class, but right when the final bell rings, they put the crowns back on and pretend they’re the greatest queens in the world. Jiwoo is convinced that Jungeun actually is. 

___

When they get to middle school, they ditch the hopscotch and flower crowns for simply sitting in the grass. They used to tolerate the boys in elementary school when they asked to play, but now, they hate them. It’s like the unwritten rule for middle school girls to hate middle school boys. A rite of passage, if you will.

One day at recess, one of those icky boys comes up to Jungeun and asks if she wants to hang out after school and Jiwoo gets a feeling she’s never felt before. It kind of feels like sad, but also angry. She later finds out that this feeling is jealousy. It doesn’t last long though, because Jungeun curtly says no and turns to talk to Jiwoo instead. The boy shouts out random words, but Jiwoo only remembers one; gay. 

If it’s “gay” to be best friends with Jungeun, then Jiwoo figures that maybe she is gay. As she’s thinking this, a kickball gets launched into her side and it doesn’t hurt, but the sheer force of it makes her fall into Jungeun’s lap. 

“Are you okay?” Jungeun asks with concern written all over her face.

“Yeah. It didn’t hurt. Thank you for catching me.”

“You do that a lot.”

“Yeah, but you’re always there to catch me!” Jiwoo says with a smile and Jungeun smiles back. Jiwoo is still laying in Jungeun’s lap, but it’s comfortable and they sit like that for a while. 

It would be peaceful, but the boy and his friends scream at Jiwoo and Jungeun again, screaming words like “gay” and “dyke”. She doesn’t really know what these words mean yet, but it still stings. She doesn’t forget this feeling. Not for the rest of recess, and certainly not for the rest of middle school. She carries those words like luggage and is convinced the weight of it all will make her fall over. She just hopes Jungeun will be there to catch her. 

___

By the time high school rolls around, all the middle school girls have gone from hating boys to loving them. All of them except for Jiwoo. Jungeun doesn’t talk about boys that much either, but she mentions them every once in a while and Jiwoo wonders if she just hasn’t gotten out of that middle school phase yet. 

There are no more days of recess and because there are eight different courses in high school, Jiwoo doesn’t see Jungeun all day like she used to. In substitution for this, they spend time together after school whether that be going to get food or doing homework. 

Jungeun has been over at Jiwoo’s house for about two hours now. The homework has been completed a little while ago and now they’re laying on the bed, talking about random things with Netflix running in the background.

Jiwoo looks over at the screen and sees a boy with a bloody nose when she remembers that one day at recess all those years ago. For some reason, that memory has stuck in her mind. 

“Hey Jungeun?” Jiwoo says and Jugeun hums out a yeah.

“Do you remember that day when you couldn’t come out to recess on time?” Jungeun looks over at Jiwoo curiously and thinks for a moment.

“Wow that was a while ago, but yeah. Why?”

“Why couldn’t you come out to recess?”

“It’s not that important.” Jungeun says and Jiwoo pouts a bit.

“I wanna know.” Jiwoo clambors on top of Jungeun, beginning to tickle her when Jungeun squirms and pushes Jiwoo off of her, but Jiwoo’s bed isn’t big enough for this so Jiwoo starts falling over the edge before Jungeun grabs her by the waist and pulls her back up. They settle comfortably next to each other, heads on the pillow, looking up at the ceiling. 

“I don’t want you to be upset.” Jungeun whispers quietly.

“I won’t be.”

“Ugh. Fine. This stupid boy, Junha, he made fun of your bangs before we left for recess so I punched him in the face. Ms. Min let me off with a warning when she found out he was bullying you.” Jungeun says and Jiwoo is stunned in silence. 

“Oh no. Are you upset? I knew you’d be upset.” Jungeun says, but Jiwoo shakes her head no. 

“I’m not upset. I’m just grateful to have you.” Jiwoo hugs Jungeun and they stay like that until Jiwoo’s parents call the girls down for dinner. 

Jiwoo thinks that maybe she doesn’t ever have to like boys because she likes Jungeun so much. She thinks that she could be falling or she has been for a really long time and hasn’t noticed it until now. 

___

High school seemed to both drag on forever and end in the blink of an eye. The end of high school wasn’t that sad for Jiwoo. It was a good experience, but nothing special and she knew she wouldn’t have to say goodbye to Jungeun because they were going to the same college, but in some ways, that was scary. 

After years of questioning, Jiwoo came to terms with the fact that not only is she gay, but she’s falling hard for Jungeun, her best friend. One of her only friends. She’s been putting off coming out to Jungeun for a while now, too afraid of what her reaction would be, but with graduation around the corner, she figures now is as good a time as any. If Jungeun didn’t want to be her friend anymore, they wouldn’t have to room together or see each other in college. 

Because of the warm summer night, they’re sitting out by Jiwoo’s patio. They set a small fire in the fire pit and play soft songs as they sit under the night sky. 

“Hey Jungie?” Jiwoo says softly.

“What’s up, wooming?” Jungeun says. She’s staring up into the sky, barely paying attention to Jiwoo.

“I have to tell you something.” Jiwoo says seriously and Jungeun repositions herself to look directly at Jiwoo. 

“Is something wrong?”

“No. I mean yes. Well no, but maybe?” Jiwoo is beyond nervous. She’s scared she’ll lose her best friend, her person. Jungeun gets up from her seat and squeezes in next to Jiwoo. She puts an arm around Jiwoo’s shoulder and says, “hey, you can tell me anything okay?”

Jiwoo takes a deep breath to calm her nerves and says, “I’m gay.” Jungeun is the first person she’s ever told and this whole experience is new for her. The overwhelming emotions make Jiwoo cry, even though she so badly wishes she wouldn’t. She expects Jungeun to push her away in disgust or yell at her, but Jungeun just pulls Jiwoo in closer, wiping her tears.

“I know and it’s okay to be gay. I am too.” Jungeun says, flashing a smile at Jiwoo.

Jiwoo’s eyes widen and she pulls away to make sure Jungeun isn’t joking, but the force in which she uses to pull back is strong, almost making her fall out of the seat. As always, Jungeun grabs Jiwoo and brings her close again.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Jiwoo asks.

“I never really thought I had to tell you or anyone really.” Jiwoo admires how little Jungeun cares about what other people think and she wishes she could be the same.

They sit cuddled together, embracing the warmth of the night, the fire, and each other until the early hours of the morning.

Jiwoo is certain that she is falling. She just hopes Jungeun will be there to catch her. 

___

After graduation, the summer flies by quickly and now they’re nearing the end of their first semester in college. They decided to room together, seeing as they practically lived together anyways with how often Jungeun slept over at Jiwoo’s house during the summer. 

It’s the weekend before finals and both Jiwoo and Jungeun have been stressed. They decide that going to a party might help them blow some steam. They go to this frat party on campus and other than a few people she recognizes from classes, everyone else is a stranger to Jiwoo. Pretty soon, Jiwoo loses Jungeun in the crowd. It’s loud and the only source of light is the neon strobe light in the corner of the room. She goes to look for Jungeun, but it’s all a bit overwhelming, especially when she sees her classmate, Sooyoung, making out with some blonde right in front of her. 

She pushes past them and finally finds Jungeun in the middle of the dance floor. It looks like she’s trying to dance and leave the crowd of people at the same time and it makes Jiwoo laugh. Thankfully, they’re able to meet up with each other when the song changes and the crowd disperses. 

“Where’d you go?” Jungeun screams over the music, but Jiwoo can’t hear her. The music is too loud and Jiwoo can hear the bass vibrating her bones. She’s about to get closer to Jungeun when some guy slams into Jungeun’s back, spilling beer on her and making her fall forwards. Jiwoo reacts quickly and catches Jungeun before she could fall. The spilled beer doesn’t seem so important anymore as their faces are inches away from each other and the pounding of Jiwoo’s heart is louder than the bass at this point. 

Jungeun stands up and Jiwoo thinks the moment is gone, but instead, Jungeun grabs the sides of Jiwoo’s face and pulls her into a kiss. They can hear some annoying cheering from the frat boys, but none of that matters. It’s just the two of them.

Jiwoo may have physically caught Jungeun this time, but Jungeun finally caught Jiwoo, who’s been falling in love since the first time she almost fell on the asphalt.


End file.
